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Biographical details

Dr Fanfan Zhou is a senior lecturer in pharmaceutics at the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Sydney. She graduated with a BSc, China Pharmaceutical University & Nanjing University, China in 2002 and PhD, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, USA in 2008.

Research interests

Drug transporters are functional cell surface membrane proteins, which play important roles in drug absorption, distribution and elimination. Therefore, they are the key determinates of drug pharmacokinetic performance. And because they selectively transport structural specific drugs, they have also been widely recognised as drug development targets.

Human Solute Carrier Influx Transporters (SLCs) are membrane transporters responsible for moving drug molecules into cells. Their function directly impacts on drug performance in body. The research of my laboratory focuses on exploring how SLCs impacton the performance of drugs and clinical outcomes, with emphasis on molecular regulation, protein interactions and transporter genetic polymorphisms. The recent findings of my laboratory also showed the novel roles of SLCs in human diseases, particularly degenerative diseases. My research team is now leading this new area of SLC research in the world.

The current ongoing projects in my laboratory include:

Investigating the association of SLCs with human degenerative diseases